I don't know if you've ever run the Death Knell, I never have I've but used the other commandos, but let me know if the ECM and slightly better maneuverability make up for less armor and weapon aim range. I always noticed the armor difference between the locust and commando.

I am running it with MG. The ECM with speed does help,especially if you are moving with the fast group. You will find that your group last longer.
In the new map and other crowded maps, You survive better with Radar.Derp plus ECM. You do have to go for cover a bit more, being more fragile, and the heat.

But TDK does have the upper hand with the ML aiming.
Basically you shoot better for TDK, and TDK hides a bit better in some maps(arms for shooting).

I am using something almost identical. I just replaced one MLAS with a TAG, and now I can run around behind the enemy, and mark targets with the enemy none the wiser. And with the speed of the PB, if I do get discovered, I can bang a hasty retreat under ECM cover.

Spent the entire game taunting TwentyOne. He's an idiot, was complaining the previous game about dying "instantly" to "like 12 arty strikes". No, he just stood still and let the entire enemy team beat on him. LordLosh and Fishbulb were in the previous match as well, so they joined in on the fun. Sadly I didn't get the kill on him, only took an arm.

Great Build, I've been running a similar build for a while with Ferro armor 10 DHS and an ams with 1000 rounds. While sometimes it was nice it often didn't prevent streak rounds and LRMS aren't a problem with ECM. 4 MLs are great but just aren't manageable with 10 DHS. However, with an 11th DHS, it really helps the sustained damage out put and heat management. I don't even miss the armor on the arms much either since they are so small its rather rare to take a non laser spray/missile spray/ LBX 10 spray there. Head armor is just for artillery and air strikes for the locust and means very little besides a few points.

The only changes I've made to my build are putting 4 armor in the back torso on each for fleeing and putting 6 armor in the left arm with 4 in the right vs a 5:5 even spread since the left arm houses the DHS and protects your ECM torso.All personal preference.

Like you've said many other builds feel like a gimped version of the other varients and carrying an ams feels gimped compared to the dual ams of the 3M. For boating SL boats are for the 1E while SPL boats are for the 3M. ERLL/LL/PPC builds are better for the 1V and 1E due to the great quirks and weight making the ECM not really achieveable with stripping all your armor off (your better of running in a Spider 5D or Cicada 3M if you want a fast ECM PPC/LL build). It's also great this mech torso mounts the lasers like the 1V so losing an arm on rare occurrences doesn't cripple your DPS output like the 3M and 1E.

Side note: If only the locust could house a 200 engine, but still runs great. I'm glad you didn't use the ballistic points for this mech, its for the best. Without the option to equip an ac2 (its just too heavy to be worth it) the machine guns really don't add much so forgoing them in any PB build is quite fine. Not to mention unless you play in 3rd person prepare to blind your self with the center torso high mounted machine guns in other builds. If you play on maps that use infrared/heat vision a machine gun hinders you more than the enemy your spraying it with.

TLDR:
Heat is manageable with 11 DHS, fast/agile, does great damage and probably one of the best PB builds out there

I was skeptical of this loadout just because I thought I'd miss the Machine Guns more than I do. It really does hit and run like nothing else and I win more with this loadout than any other I've tried so far.

The theory behind this build is that by using the ECM to always get the first strike, you can use the BAP as well to find the open component you need to shoot, without hesitation. I recommend bringing target info gathering. Also try to get away with as many quick shots as you can get off before you run away. It will bring your damage way up.

I've had some great games with this build . Gameplay was recorded shortly after the new tech was added to the game , so I didnt have much time to get used to new stealth heat dissipation / generation . Which is why I've decided to run 4ML's, they are also less penalazing if you plan on using them while stealth is active . I tend to shield dmg with my left arm so I decided to put 2 heat sinks and 10 armor in my right arm (dont want to lose them) . You cant really put them anywhere else since stealth armor occupies additional slots in both left and right torso. I think Smurfy is also incorrect when it comes to stealth armor slots so I've posted a vid which includes the ingame mechlab build as well.

However , if people dont plan on shooting while stealth mode is active and only use stealth to relocate then this 4 ERML build will do just fine if not even better.

Dont forget to take Enhanced ECM nodes in the Sensors tree as stealth greatly benefits from those along with cool run nodes (Operations) for faster heat dissipation and air strikes for easier assassination time .

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